TQ#6: Elluminate Live...really illuminating!

My teammates and I met on Elluminate Live! prior to our February 26, 2009 class. We chose Elluminate because we felt it would be most beneficial for us to learn its workings should another one of our Lehigh courses use this program for instruction. Corinne and I logged in a bit early at 7:30pm (probably because we were both first-timers and unsure of how our session would transpire!) and were able to view each other on the video window as well as hear each other surprisingly clear. We tried some of the functions such as the drawing tools and writing back and forth in the chat window. Corinne and I decided to then take a short break before our official meeting time of 8pm.

At 8pm, Cindy logged in. As soon as her video window appeared, Corinne was knocked off line. She tried for several minutes to restart her video feed, but was unable to do so. She eventually gave up on the video feed and focused solely on audio. Corinne’s audio was not nearly as clear as it was in our earlier meeting. It actually sounded like mice running around and squeaking. It was difficult to listen to and actually hurt my ears. She tried to disconnect as well re-run the audio set-up, but nothing seemed to help. (We all wore headphones, so this was not the issue.)

Since we were first-timers, we did not know that the fact that having all three of our microphones active simultaneously was the issue. In our class with Dr. Garrigan on the following evening, we learned that audio is much better in Elluminate when only one microphone is utilized at any given time. Furthermore, we later learned that Cindy and I should have deactivated our videos so that the amount of memory that videos require would have been freed up, thus making the session run more smoothly.

All in all, our team meeting on Elluminate was frustrating because we could not successfully work out the kinks. None of us was knowledgeable enough in Elluminate to lead the others in the experience. Our meeting taught us a valuable lesson: Training is a key component in learning new technologies. Elluminate can be used to empower both students and teachers both in the present and future as long as appropriate training is implemented prior to a session. If not, time is wasted when no one is proficient is use of the technology and feelings of irritation emerge instead of a sense of wonder at its capabilities. I felt much more confident in using Elluminate following our class session with Dr. Garrigan. He instructed us and gave us helpful tips along the way so that the class experience was a positive and productive one.

In addition to the Elluminate meeting, I created a podcast using Audacity. I was surprised at the ease at which I was able to create it. I recorded myself making a pancake batter recipe. I made mistakes along the way and discarded several recordings until I felt comfortable with this one: ..\..\pancake batter recipe podcast.aup